This project will examine the question of what degree of access should individuals be afforded to the technologies that are expected to emerge from the Human Genome Initiative (HGI). These technologies are expected to provide individuals with unprecedented amounts of genetically related information, and with the ability to alter genetic endowments so as to prevent and treat genetic disorders and to positively enhance genetic traits. The potential impact of these technologies on the fate of individuals, families, and ultimately, the species itself, will make the question of who is given access to them highly controversial. By matching the characteristics of these new technologies as closely as possible to technologies that currently exist, this study will project the degree of access to these genetic services that would result if access were governed by the principles of distributive justice currently embodied in major public health care entitlement programs. It will then compare this result with the patterns of access that would emerge from the application of alternate models of distributive justice. The study will conclude with recommendations for how access to these new technologies can best accomplish the goals of distributive justice.
| Mehlman, M J; Botkin, J R; Scarrow, A et al. (1994) Coverage of genetic technologies under national health reform. Am J Hum Genet 55:1054-60 |
| Mehlman, M J; Visocan, K A (1992) Medicare and Medicaid: are they just health care systems? Houst Law Rev 29:835-65 |
